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On Base with the Asheville Tourists

Post details: What's in a name?

05/14/07

What's in a name?

Courtesy of Bill Ballew
The 1972 Asheville Orioles (more commonly called the O's) were the first team not to be named the Tourists in the city since 1925. The O's left Asheville after the 1975 season and took their nickname with them.

Asheville Citizen-Times senior writer Keith Jarrett penned this homage to the history of minor league baseball mascots in Asheville, and I had to pass it along to my blog reader(s). Enjoy.

Before Asheville's pro baseball team permanently became the Tourists in 1976, the franchise went through several nicknames. Those names, along with the first year the team adopted them, appear in this list compiled from Bill Ballew’s book "A History of Professional Baseball in Asheville."

1897 — Moonshiners

1909 — Red Birds

1910 — Moonshiners

1913 — Mountaineers

1914 — Tourists

1924 — Skylanders/Skyers

1925 — Tourists

1972 — O’s (Orioles)

1976-present — Tourists

What's in a name?Published May 13.
ASHEVILLE — What's in a name? For the Asheville Tourists, it's nearly 80 years of tradition, name recognition and uniqueness that aptly define one of the area’s biggest industries. Except for a four-year stretch in the early 1970s, WNC's pro baseball team has been called the Tourists since 1925, the nickname surviving a spirited attempt to change it almost 50 years ago.

Aside from a brief stint as the Asheville O's, few people still alive can recall when the team was known by any other name. But from Asheville’s first team in 1897 until the permanent establishment of the Tourists in 1976, the team went through five different monikers.

According to the research of local author Bill Ballew in his book "A History of Professional Baseball in Asheville," the original pro team formed late in the 19th century was known as the Moonshiners. Perhaps in the same vein as its current name, the selection was a way of acknowledging a large cash industry that the area was famous for.

In 1909, the Asheville Red Birds posted a 22-20-2 record, but reverted to the Moonshiners the following season. By 1913 the team had moved from Riverside Park to Oates Field, and the new nickname was the Mountaineers. In 1914 local newspapers began referring to the local nine as the Tourists, a nickname that would survive through several seasons until the pro game was disbanded for six years during World War I.

Baseball returned to Asheville in 1924 with a brand new ballpark, and a team called the Skylanders (Skyers for short) opened McCormick Field. By June of the next season, the team had re-adopted the name Tourists, and that stuck for nearly a half-century.

"Back then a lot of nicknames came from sportswriters," Ballew said. "Guys would get tired of referring to Asheville or the Asheville nine," he added. "They would give them nicknames based on the color of their uniforms or where they were from."

A name preferred by the people
The Tourists nickname survived a purge attempt in 1959, when pro baseball returned to the city after a three-year hiatus. Ballew reports that local businessman Fleming Talman spearheaded the movement to bring the game back, and part of the plan was a new name. Local sports media were involved in re-naming the team, but their submission — the Ridgerunners — was rejected and Talman organized a contest for people to vote on a name.
The Tourists won with more than 3,500 votes, 3,000 more than runner-up Sky Sox.

"It's a good name," said Ron McKee, the Tourists' general manager for 26 years before retiring two years ago. "It's such a tradition around here, and people identify with tourism in Western North Carolina. ... "To me the name is not as important as having that identity, that everybody thinks of Asheville when they hear that name."

Asheville assistant general manager Chris Smith said the name provides a constant chuckle when people visit McCormick Field for the first time.

"They look at the scoreboard and we have 'Visitors' and right underneath it says 'Tourists,' and people get a kick out of that," he said.

The Oriole Way
The scoreboard read differently beginning in 1972 when the Tourists became affiliated with the Baltimore Orioles. Ballew writes that the parent franchise had a system called the "Oriole Way," and part of that was renaming the team and repainting portions of McCormick Field in the Baltimore colors of orange and black. Called the Asheville O's and directed by future Baltimore manager Cal Ripken Sr. (Cal Jr. was a batboy who played Little League ball in West Asheville) the team enjoyed four straight winning seasons. After the 1975 season they moved to a larger market in Charlotte.

Asheville became affiliated with the Texas Rangers in 1976, and the Tourists returned. More than 30 years later, the name seems entrenched.

"Unless there's a new ballpark or a new affiliation that insists on changing, they should always be the Asheville Tourists," McKee said. "That's the just the way it's almost always been and the way it should always be."

Pictured is Asheville Tourists mascot Ted E. Tourist. No one's sure what he has in the briefcase. It's a lot like the briefcase in Pulp Fiction. Points to my fellow Tarantino geeks who get it.

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On Base with the Asheville Tourists

Jason McGill covers sports for the Asheville Citizen-Times. In this blog, he'll bring you news on the Asheville Tourists minor league baseball team. Let Jason know what you think by e-mailing jmcgill@citizen-times.com or commenting on the blog.